Carillo Farms had a first experience in solar with another (unnamed) company that installed a 20 KW DC project as a Net Energy Metering Aggregation (NEMA). The generator aggregated 3 meters – all with different tariffs.
That project had several flaws that made it a big problem for Carrillo Farms.
1. It was grossly under- sized for the energy use load. The NEMA project was only capable of producing about 16% of the combined energy used by the three meters.
2. It used no system monitoring at all- and there was no record of production or performance.
3. The Chinese-manufactured microinverters began failing within one year and the owner did not have a method to determine or become informed about that problem.
4. The system was built using old (reclaimed) pipe and materials that were not suitable for a long- term service.
Fortunately the modules were Made in USA, but the rest of the system was a big problem and a big loser for the farm. NSSE was hired to design a new system – removing the old system and preserving the modules, but all other components had to be replaced. The system increased in size by 80%. This provided the owners with an effective 100% replacement of the energy at the host meter and separated the other meters so that they can be properly sized for individual solar assets.
NSSE added the Made in America Module 250 for this project – which was applied for before the Rule 21 change (the product is now unusable in California now since it cannot be accessed and curtailed remotely by the utility). Fortunately for Carrillo Farms, this project corrected all of the major problems previously experienced using solar. And, Carrillo Farms also hired NSSE to install an even larger solar array at a nearby orchard.